Tim Kay explores 'finding God's mercy in a thousand-year-old prayer'.
The Prayer for the Emergency Room
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
You’ve probably been there — sitting in the emergency room, waiting. Maybe it’s you who’s in pain, or maybe it’s your child.
Your phone battery is dying, so you put it away. To your left, someone’s nursing a bleeding hand. To your right, another holds their eye. Behind you, a child is crying.
The smell of antiseptic, the buzz of fluorescent lights, the heavy air of anxiety — it’s all too much.
You know this is a moment to pray. But how?
You want to seek God’s presence, to ask for His help. You know prayer is the best thing you could do right now. But how do you pray in the chaos?
This article is published by Tim Kay. It's one of many he's published on his Substack feed.
So you whisper,
“Lord, please help me. Be with me. Heal me. Help me see a doctor soon.”
And yet, you don’t feel much better.
Is there another way to pray when life won’t quiet down — when anxiety drowns out your usual words?
Let me offer you a tool for that moment. A prayer used for centuries, especially when everything feels impossible.
It’s called the Jesus Prayer.
The Prayer That Breathes
It’s ancient — traced back to the 5th century.
Monks in the deserts of Egypt prayed it. Millions, from all Christian traditions, still breathe it daily.
It’s simple:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
It’s meant to be repeated — a rhythm of the heart that draws your attention to God.
You can even pray it with your breath:
Breathe in: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Breathe out: Have mercy on me.
It slows your breathing, steadies your heart, and turns your attention from anxiety to mercy.
But where does this prayer come from?
The Blind Beggar’s Cry
Mark tells the story in chapter 10:
“As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving Jericho, a blind man, Bartimaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging.” (Mark 10:46)
When he heard Jesus was near, he shouted,
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v47)
That words have mercy on me — in Greek, ἐλέησόν με (eleēson me) — are the same words used in the ancient prayer Kyrie eleison — “Lord, have mercy.”
It also appears in the Greek translation of Psalm 51, where David prays:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.”
Literally: kata to mega eleos sou — “according to your mega mercy.”
I love that. God’s mercy is mega — vast, overflowing, endless.
Mercy: The Wildcard Prayer
When Bartimaeus cries for mercy, he’s not asking for forgiveness — he’s asking for healing.
That shows us something profound: mercy isn’t limited to forgiveness.
Mercy means help — compassion from the stronger to the weaker.
So when we pray, “Lord, have mercy,” we’re really saying, “Lord, I need your help.”
And that could mean anything.
If you need forgiveness, mercy is forgiveness.
If you need healing, mercy is healing.
If you need peace, mercy is peace.
Mercy is the wildcard prayer. Whatever you need most right now, God’s mercy covers it.
We never stop needing mercy.
We are always beggars before God — always in need of His mega mercy.
“What Do You Want Me to Do for You?”
When Bartimaeus finally stands before Jesus, the Lord asks,
“What do you want me to do for you?” (v51)
Imagine that — the King of the universe asking you what you want.
Jesus’ question shows that “mercy” is not a specific prayer. It could mean anything.
When David asked for mercy in Psalm 51, it was about forgiveness. But Bartimaeus needs healing.
The Jesus Prayer is the kind of prayer you can pray, no matter what’s going on in your life.
When we pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” we remind ourselves of the question of Jesus,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
That’s the radical question of grace. It’s how mercy works. Our simplest prayer opens the door for conversation with God.
The Faith That Saves
Jesus says,
“Go, your faith has healed you.” (v52)
I love the response of Jesus. It’s faith that has done the heavy lifting.
But how was that faith expressed?
Bartimaeus expressed his faith, by asking Jesus for mercy.
Faith is coming to Jesus again and again, believing in His mega mercy.
Not because we have to twist His arm, but because His mercy is an ocean — and we want to keep drawing from it.
That’s what the Jesus Prayer is: dipping your heart, again and again, into that ocean.
Breathing the Name of Jesus
Every phrase tells us who He is:
Lord — Kyrios, the divine name of Yahweh.
Jesus — His human name, the one who saves.
Christ — Christos, the anointed Messiah.
Son of God — the second Person of the Trinity.
It reminds us, breath by breath, who we’re talking to.
It also helps us pray continually, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
A monk on Mount Athos once told me the Jesus Prayer helps us become aware of God in all things.
Like Jacob in Genesis 28:16:
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
Whether it’s a hospital, a car, or a sleepless night — this prayer makes us aware of the presence of Christ.
And it ties us to our breath — the same breath God gave Adam in Genesis 2:7 — the breath of God, which gives us life and light.
The Night in the Hospital
When our son Joshua needed surgery to remove his left kidney — a huge cyst had caused him terrible pain — I found myself back in that hospital chair.
Anxiety all around me. Anxiety within me.
How do you pray when your child is asleep beside you, and the buzz of hospital activity won’t let you find the quiet you need?
That night, I turned to the Jesus Prayer.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
Again and again. For an hour.
Eventually, I fell asleep in peace.
And when I woke in the night, I realised I’d been praying it in my dreams.
The prayer had become my breath.
And I knew, deep down, God was in this place.